A Garden Life: Whats Bloomin in My Garden

Garden Coach

I am a garden coach which simply means if you want to learn how to garden -- I will advise you on getting started!
I will come visit your yard with you to understand the sun and the soil and your vision of your garden. I will create drafts of some easy-to-begin gardenscapes for you.

If you want to continue working with me, I have some helpful offerings for nurturing your garden and your own skills as a gardener. As you begin your garden life, I have advise on where to order or purchase healthy plants, how to enrich your soil, determine an initial garden budget for your plants and your pocket book! I am available to go with you to purchase healthy plants your first year. I can also show you some planting magic when you are ready to put in your first garden plants.

Information on plant care and maintenance, wintering over, cutting back, and dividing plants might also be something you would like to learn. At the end of your first garden season I can come and do a "health check" for you and offer advice for the fall plantings and for the coming spring. At this point I can also draft a plan for your second year garden.

I am also delighted and expert in working with you to design gardenscapes which will attract a variety of wild life. I have expertise in gardens for hummingbirds, butterflies, toads - yes, toads are a wonderful addition to any garden - and bees! I have a certified Bee Keeper on staff who advises on how to help increase the population of bees. Bees are essential to our ecology and the bee population has been declining rapidly. This is a critical concern for pollination and continual renewal of our green resources.

Finally, I have artists who create unique and delightful outdoor gardenscapes. They use glass, stone, iron, and other weather resistant materials to add an intimate piece of art which blends in with the personality of your garden.

I am good at assisting gardeners-to-be of all ages. I love working with children and starting them on their life long, colorful garden path!

A few words about what I do and do not work with.
First of all, I will not work with any chemicals or toxic substances. We can enrich our soil and nurture our plants in safe, nutritious ways. We can also work with plant diseases or pests without resorting to chemistry.

I do offer my garden coach experience working with Perennial Flowers, Herbs, Wild Flowers, Ornamental Grass, and Spring Bulbs. I do not advise on Trees, Large Shrubs, Lawn care, or Landscaping. I also do not assist with vegetable gardens.
What I do work with, the flowers, I treat with love and respect.

The earth is our home and our flower gardens are the blooming smiles on its face!

Gardenscape Offerings

Here is a list of my earth-friendly services:

Detail plan(s) of garden spaces for your yard
Helping you to pick out healthy plants
Advice on actual planting of your selections
Mid-season maintenance check of your garden space
End of season advice on readying your garden space for winter
Advice on what, how, and when to put in spring-flowering bulbs
Creating a hummingbird garden
Creating a butterfly garden
Creating a bee-friendly garden scape
Creating a garden scape for toads
Gardening with containers
Garden art

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Whats Bloomin in My Garden

We have been having extremely hot, humid weather lately and it has pushed many of the flowers to bloom early. The bearded, blue flag and Siberian iris finished weeks ago, as did the peonies.

The Stella d'oro day lilies are in full bloom, lemony delicious yellows that glow. And I have masses of orange day lilies lighting up the side of my house. All of the roses have already had their first blooms as well. Last week I cleaned up and freshened their soil, fed them and cleaned the leaves and am delighted with all the new buds they have. While working near them yesterday the scent of the opening flowers was so sweet and heady!
I have already harvested the lavender. It bloomed early this year and I have scads of beautiful fragrant lavender buds to keep me and my friends well stocked for the year.

The daisy's are blooming along with all the different varieties of coreopsis that my daughter Megan gave me 2 years ago. They are feathery and fragile in appearance but quite hardy in actual fact. And who knew that yellow came in so many shades!
The spider worts are in bloom - huge wavy stalks with delicate flowers of deep purple and magenta. They stand watch over my "dessert" garden; the succulents. Last year many of these died off but they seem to be returning and growing in well this summer.
The blue salvias have already had their first bloom as well. I trimmed them back last week and refreshed their soil. They will continue all summer, lining the front path to the door.

The hummingbirds have moved in to the honeysuckle! At least it seems that way. The honeysuckle is wildly growing and in full bloom on the back deck. It has been blooming for over a month now and it is truly gorgeous.

And there are more flowers to come! It is such a treat to go out every day and see what has opened up. The fragrances are wonderful and the yard looks like a rainbow! I was reading in one of my gardening books yesterday and there was a Chinese proverb given that gave me a chuckle: